This invention relates to an apparatus for selectively raising and lowering a power tool. More particularly the invention relates to an apparatus for adjusting the level of an electrical tool located beneath a work bench.
Power tools such as saws and routers are commonly mounted beneath the top or working surface of a work bench. The blade of the saw or the bit of the router projects through an opening in the working surface and cuts the work piece which rests on the working surface.
The depth of cut is adjusted by raising or lowering the saw or router. The mechanism for making the adjustment is conventionally attached to the saw or router so that the operator of the machine must crouch down to make the adjustment. Usually the operator must repeatedly do so in order to adjust the depth accurately. For example, he will check the depth from above the table, crouch down to adjust the tool, then stand up to check the depth again and so on. He can spend a considerable amount of time and energy in doing so.
It has been found that the level of a power tool such as a saw or router can be adjusted by means of an apparatus which is beneath a table top for protection from saw dust, wood chips, nails and the like but which is manipulated by means of a handle which fits into an aperture on the table top. The operator can manipulate the handle from above the table; he need not stoop down or otherwise change his position while he is making the adjustment.
After the adjustment is made, the operator can remove the handle so that it does not hinder the sawing or routing operation. Any debris which falls into the aperture from which the handle was removed falls harmlessly to the ground and not onto the apparatus for making the adjustment.
Broadly, the level-adjusting apparatus of the invention serves to adjust the level of a tool having an implement for cutting a piece of work. The apparatus includes: a working surface on which a piece of work to be cut is placed and a carriage beneath the working surface for supporting the tool such that its cutting implement projects above the working surface. A tube extends downwardly from the working surface and has an inner wall which defines a longitudinally extending space. A rotary element in the form of a tube is open at its top such that its space communicates with an aperture formed in the working surface and is open at its bottom such that particulate material which falls into the aperture falls downwardly through the space and exits through the open bottom of the tube. A spindle is operatively connected to the carriage such that rotation of the spindle causes a change in elevation of the carriage. The spindle is spaced from the tube sufficiently such that the particulate material which discharges from the tube does not fall on the spindle. There is means for operatively interconnecting the tube with the spindle such that rotation of the tube causes a like rotation of the spindle. A handle has a stem which is removably received in the aperture and in the space of the tube and when therein, contacts the inner wall of the tube such that rotation of the handle causes a like rotation of the tube and a like rotation of the spindle with resulting raising or lowering of the carriage.